Memory like an Elephant

Lukas told me he was going to make a coloring book. He had been asking me for weeks for a specific coloring book, but I had no idea what he was talking about so he had resigned that I wouldn't find it. Now he was going to make his own. I said "fine." (ie..."whatever kid...you draw all day long...make whatever you want"). So, he colored for while and left the room to play something else and I found this picture (pictured left). I was impressed as I was pretty sure I could tell what at least 4 out of the 5 characters were according to our Nick Jr. favorites (Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, and Wonderpets)....so I went searching for anything I could to have him verify what these characters were and in the very bottom of our craft box was the LOST COLORING book (pictured right). Wow - okay. I showed it to Lukas and he said, "You found it - the coloring book!" and he confirmed that it was this coloring book he had drawn. What is wild is that he hasn't seen this thing for weeks, but he remembered the characters on it. I know who I am now remember where we park and it isn't me!

Last note - another strange bit in it all is that Lukas' speech has recently had a strange downward turn toward stuttering and lack of word retrieval. It has been incredibly frustrating for him and super sad for us to watch. It is confusing to ever understand if some of these things could ever be related. Or perhaps it is just a gift that he has this outlet of art midst speech struggles. I don't know.